To maximise the social opportunities offered by autonomous driving, FUTURE-TYPE features face-to-face ‘social’ seating

London, UK, 7 September 2017: The Jaguar FUTURE-TYPE is a premium compact on-demand vehicle concept, designed to meet the mobility needs of future generations.

The Jaguar FUTURE-TYPE is a fully autonomous concept that imagines mobility in a world where Jaguar customers can summon a fully-charged FUTURE-TYPE on-demand. Offering a glimpse into the future, It is a car for a world of autonomous, connected, electric and shared mobility (ACES).

At the heart of the concept is the world’s first intelligent and connected steering wheel. This steering wheel lives in your home and becomes your trusted companion. Sayer – named after the designer of the E-type - is the first voice-activated Artificial Intelligence (AI) steering wheel that will be able to carry out hundreds of tasks. It can summon your car, play music, book you a table and even knows what’s in your fridge. Sayer signals your membership of our on-demand service club. A club which offers either sole ownership or the option of sharing the car with others in your community, meaning that you need only fully own the steering wheel, not the car itself.

Need to be at a meeting two hours away from home by 8am tomorrow? Simply ask Sayer from the comfort of your living room and it will work out when you get up, when a car needs to autonomously arrive at your door and even advise which parts of the journey you might enjoy driving yourself.

Sayer is the heart of an advanced HMI system that will keep you connected to your world throughout your journey – or not, if you want to be alone and concentrate on the thrill of driving. Occupants can summon information from different orbits of their world and bring them to life through the system. Pull up your home, family, friends or work orbits to check what’s happening and stay connected with all parts of your life. Select different orbits one by one, all at the same time or nothing at all, allowing you to dial up the information you do want to see and dial down what you don’t.

“FUTURE-TYPE offers an insight into the potential for driving and car ownership in the future. It’s part of our vision for how a luxury car brand could continue to be desirable, in a more digital and autonomous age,” said Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar.

“Our FUTURE-TYPE Concept is an advanced research project looking at how we can ensure an on-demand Jaguar will appeal to customers in 2040 and beyond. Whether it’s commuting to work, autonomously collecting children from school or enjoying driving yourself on the weekend in the countryside, if there’s a choice of on-demand cars driving around city streets, we need to ensure customers desire our 24/7 service over our competitors.”

In the connected world of tomorrow, a fleet of fully-charged FUTURE-TYPEs could be available for customers on-demand. If you are taking your child to school, and only need two seats, you can summon a FUTURE-TYPE with 2+1 social seating, so you can chat face-to-face as the car autonomously drives you to your destination using the most time and energy efficient route.

The FUTURE-TYPE will communicate with other cars and use co-operative driving technologies. This collaboration will enable shorter distances between vehicles and make lane changing and exiting from junctions safer and more efficient. This will also increase road capacity and prevent accidents, while the narrow width of FUTURE-TYPE will mean it takes up less space on the road and in car parks.

The driver could ask the FUTURE-TYPE to drive autonomously during the stressful and tedious parts of the journey, such as in heavy traffic or roadworks, or if they prefer to do some work or choose to watch a film. But for the occasions when a driver wants to enjoy the thrill of the open road, the concept retains a steering wheel.

This dual approach will allow drivers to choose either autonomous or assisted driving, with the assisted driver benefiting from the same advanced technologies that allow the FUTURE-TYPE to drive itself. These technologies will work in the background to make driving in the future safer and more enjoyable than ever, with the car always alert and aware of situations developing over the horizon.

“Today, Jaguar offers customers a dynamic, emotional experience. Whether it’s the exhilarating way they drive, the way they sound, the iconic design or the connection drivers feel with the road, customers tell us that their Jaguar makes them feel special. With the FUTURE-TYPE we’ve been investigating how we can keep this emotional connection in a future world where people may choose not to own a car, or when a Jaguar is an autonomous, on-demand vehicle,” added Ian Callum.

“In a future age of on-demand services and car sharing, our research shows there will still be a place for luxury and premium experiences – and enjoying the drive. People will still want to travel in style and comfort, while the growth of car sharing actually increases the opportunity for people to experience what a Jaguar has to offer, even if they chose not to own one.”